[Paek Jongmin's Deep Tech] K-Robot Danced in Five Months, but Lacks Ammunition in Race With China

Kairos by KIMM Evolves from Handshakes to Dancing in Four Months

Ryu Seokhyeon, KIMM President, "Kairos Version 1.0 to Be Unveiled Next April"

Park Chanhoon, Director, "Progress Has Been Rapid but Immediate Funding of 3 Billion Won Is Needed"

A humanoid robot standing on stage took bold steps forward. The robot raised both arms high and greeted the audience. When the familiar music of the national calisthenics routine started, the robot spread its arms left and right, bent and straightened its knees, and mimicked the calisthenics movements. Next, another robot attempted to imitate a K-pop dance. Finally, with a pair of fans called Hansam in both hands, the robot swung its arms wide and even tried a traditional Korean mask dance, Talchum.

The confident appearance of the Korean-style AI humanoid Kairos was revealed on the stage of the "2026 Global Machinery Technology Forum" organized by the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM), held at the Korea Science and Technology Hall in Seoul on September 7, 2026. On this day, KIMM unveiled Kairos V0.7 and demonstrated a variety of full-body movements in addition to advancements in walking and posture control.

The robot Kairos, created by the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, is performing the traditional Korean mask dance Talchum. Photo by Paek Jongmin, Tech Specialist

However, the robot's dance was not yet at the level of a human performer. While the robot managed to move its arms and legs to the music and follow some of the K-pop choreography, the transitions and rhythm were somewhat stiff. The differences became even more pronounced in the Talchum performance. Although the robot swung the Hansam and bent its knees to mimic dance gestures, it was still far from capturing the flexibility and rhythmical flair of a human dancer. Notably, there remains a significant gap compared to the flashy dance moves of Chinese robots.

Nonetheless, the pace of change is remarkable. Kairos first appeared before the public at KIMM’s 50th anniversary ceremony last April. At that time, Kairos V0.5 simply walked onto the stage, waved its hand, and shook hands with people. The reporter also shook hands with Kairos in person.

The robot Kairos, developed by the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, is performing gymnastics to the music of the national calisthenics routine. Photo by Paek Jongmin, Tech Specialist

The robot that once drew attention just by extending its hand and grasping another’s has now, in just five months, reached the stage of using its whole body to perform gymnastics and dance. KIMM explained that since its first unveiling, the institute has continuously advanced the robot’s walking, posture control, and full-body movement capabilities.

Ryu Seokhyeon, president of KIMM, stated at the event, "Currently, Kairos is at version 0.7," adding, "We plan to launch version 1.0 by next April." By leveraging visual and tactile sensors and artificial intelligence, the goal is to enhance the robot's capacity to perceive its environment, move, manipulate, and interact, thereby expanding its use to manufacturing automation, disaster response, safety and defense, as well as domestic and caregiving applications.

Although Kairos has advanced to the point of dancing on stage, there is still a long way to go. Even the few minutes of dance demonstration onstage were not achieved without difficulties.

All seven Kairos robots traveled from Daejeon to Seoul for the demonstration, but not all robots successfully completed their performances. To build the stage and ensure a successful demonstration in just one day, the researchers had to work through the night.

In the end, during the inspection and preparation process, some robots were excluded from the final demonstration. This underscored how difficult it is to operate robots, which work reliably in labs, stably and on schedule in front of an audience.

Park Chanhoon, Head of the Global Top Strategy Research Group at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (fourth from the left), is on stage with the Kairos research team, requesting support for an additional 300 billion won in research funding. Photo by Paek Jongmin, Tech Specialist

The bigger problem is research funding. KIMM’s data factory, established for robot training, houses 25 robots. This scale is insufficient to keep pace with the aggressive learning speed seen in China. Chinese robotics companies install thousands of robots for training to imitate human behaviors.

Park Chanhoon, head of the Global Top Strategy Research Group at KIMM and leader of the Kairos development and demonstration, said, "It has been incredibly difficult to reach this point. We are still racing to make progress." He especially emphasized the need for additional large-scale investment to speed up R&D, requesting, "We need about 3 billion won more in funding," to the government and lawmakers. He explained that, under the current budget, Talchum may be the limit of what is possible.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.